The edtech boom, largely propelled by ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, isn’t ending anytime soon. And we have yet another instance that validates that. Bangalore-based edtech upstart Unacademy has welcomed two new investors onboard, Tiger Global Management and Dragoneer Investment Group, after a recent financing round. It did not disclose any details but sources claim that the financing round was worth around $75 million to $100 million. These fresh investments also elevate the billion-dollar company to a valuation of $2 billion now.
Gaurav Munjal, Co-Founder and CEO of Unacademy said, “Our mission from Day One has been to democratize education and make it more affordable and accessible. We have consistently built the most iconic products that deliver high-quality education to everyone. Today, I’m delighted to welcome Tiger Global and Dragoneer as our partners in the journey. They are both marquee global investors with a history of partnering with innovative companies that are making an impact on people’s lives.”
The $2 billion valuation is just an ode to Unacademy’s recent success, especially during the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the student community into resorting to the online medium of education. Demand for online education platforms like Unacademy rose rapidly during these times and the user base of these platforms grew massively. This made the investors consider placing a bet on several ed-tech startups.
Earlier this year in February, Unacademy raised $110 million from General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital India and Facebook, which valued the company at around $500 million. Later in September, the company raised another $150 million which made it a billion-dollar company. The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and existing investors like General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Facebook, and Blume Ventures also participated.
Unacademy also expanded its resource base in recent times. It currently houses 47,000+ Educators, teaching in over 14 Indian languages. The company claims that it conducts 150,000 live classes every month on the platform. Learners on Unacademy are spread across 5,000 cities with a collective watch time across platforms over 2 billion minutes per month.
“This investment further strengthens our mission to democratise knowledge. We have just begun, and we are here to stir a revolution,” said Unacademy on its blog.
Scott Shleifer, Partner at Tiger Global said, “The opportunity to improve lives through online education is enormous because of its sheer accessibility. The Unacademy team has innovated rapidly to build a leading platform that is taking education to the farthest corners of India. We are very excited to partner with Unacademy and look forward to seeing it scale further.”
